BANNED! 9 Foods Removed from School - MoE

All schools in the UAE received a notice from the Ministry of Education on Tuesday advising them of an immediate ban on nine foods from all school premises. School canteens are not permitted to serve any of the proscribed foods. The list is as follows: 

1. Hot dogs and processed meats

2. Indomie which is a brand of instant noodle produced in Indonesia

3. Chocolate bars both with and without nuts

4. Chocolate spreads

5. Sweets, lollipops and jelly

6. All peanut products 

7. All potato chips and corn chips

8. Carbonated drinks including energy drinks, flavoured water, juice, iced teas, slushies and eskimo drinks

9. All cream cakes and doughnuts 

The Ministry also urged school administrators to inform parents of the new restrictions.  They also requested that parents should refrain from sending such banned food items to school. 

The UAE has a very significant problem with childhood obesity.  15% of children aged 20 years and under will be affected by the condition by 2020 up from 12% in 2013, according to the World Obesity Federation.  The body says that the rate in the UAE is almost twice as high as the international rates of childhood obesity.